Golden Boy original Broadway cast album on CD

If you need any proof of Sammy Davis, Jr.'s strength as a singer, just listen to this show from 1964. I suspect his live performances were electric, because his vocal performance of Golden Boy seems to jump off the cast album. Mr. Davis makes the uneven score uniformly sing.

Between the notes to this CD release and some online reading about the history of this musical, I can understand why the show seems a bit of a hodge-podge. The book is based on Clifford Odet's 1937 drama of the same name but with significant changes--including changing the title character from an Irish-American immigrant to an African-American outsider. I suppose that in the 30s, the Irish in America were outsiders, too, but now the race card is clearly played, and the civil rights cause of the 60s is the larger issue that boxer Joe Bonaparte is fighting.

I generally like most of the music on this album, although it does seem to be missing a uniform "voice" a lot of the time. There are numbers that seem like Big Band, swing, gospel, pop and more conventional Broadway. Some of it deserves a life outside the theater, although I had never heard any of these songs before. I was particularly struck by two elegiac ballads about life in the big city--"A Night Song" which is in the Sinatra vein, and "While the City Sleeps" which lacks a little structure and oomph.

This is clearly a vehicle for Sammy Davis who shines throughout even when the heavy-handed inter-racial love story and some obvious racial jokes are added. The rest of the cast has significantly less to do, except Paula Wayne as the love interest with the great character name of Lorna Moon. Ms. Wayne has a slightly gravely character voice that reminds me of a younger Elaine Stritch.

I wonder if Encores has ever done a concert version of this show? I can imagine Taye Diggs in it.

Golden Boy
Music by Charles Strouse
Lyrics by Lee Adams
Book by Clifford Odets and William Gibson
Opened in 1964
Cast: Sammy Davis, Paula Wayne, Billy Daniels

Best Foot Forward--Off-broadway Cast Album on CD

The liner notes are rather skimpy with the CD reissue of this 1963 off-Broadway remount of the 1941 show Best Foot Forward, so I may get a lot wrong in my assessment of this recording. Its difficult to tell who is singing when, as there is not printed libretto, as many recordings have.

I was intrigued by this recording for several reasons--primarily it was the New York stage debut of Liza Minnelli. Also, Christopher Walken is in this production, along with his brother Glenn. The Walken Bros.'s bios say they modeled for the Conover Agency. Sadly a google image search did not reveal a photo for my use with this entry.

According to the liner notes, composer Hugh Martin is credited with the wonderful three-part arrangement of "Sing for you Supper" from Rodgers and Hart's Boys From Syracuse. So I was looking forward to the women's trio "The Three B's" from this score. While the song is generally wonderful, and well sung by Minnelli, Kay Cole and Renee Winters, it doesn't contain a lot of the the tight, three-part Andrews Sisters-like harmonies I was expecting.

The act one "Ev'ry Time" should be a cabaret or big band standard. Maybe it it, although I had never heard it. Several songs form act two deserve some continued life: "You're Lucky is a great ballad tune that suffers from some pedestrian lyrics; "What Do You Think I Am?" and "A Raving Beauty" are both fun duets; "You are for Loving" is also a nice ballad in the big band style.

The score is performed on "twin" pianos--which seems like an odd phrase two me--giving the music a slight cabaret feel, which didn't bother me too much, although I'm certain some of the lusher songs suffered from this reduced instrumentation.

Two bonus tracks on the CD are songs from the score that Liza recorded on her debut 1963 album, which was released about the time of the stage production. While these versions of "You Are For Loving" and "What Do You Think I Am?" have a fuller accompaniment, their arrangements suffer from sounding rather dated at this point. In each case I prefer the version from the show.

Best Foot Forward

Music and lyrics by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane
Opened on Broadway in 1941
Off-Broadway remount opened in 1963
Cast: Liza Minnelli, Christopher Walken (billed as Ronald Walken), Paula Wayne, Glenn Walken, Karin Wolfe, Grant Walden, Kay Cole, Renee Winters,